The universe of Halo champions every science fiction name out there, in my opinion. Even Star Wars. *Gasps*. Yes, it’s not completely original, nor does it need to be. It takes great science fiction themes and puts its own spin on them, all filled with humour and engaging characters. Both the games and books are brilliant, but it’s the games I want to focus on. They are filled with so many epic set-pieces, sad moments and revelations. It’s these moments that erupt goosebumps on my skin and make me nerd out all over again. And these are just single-player highlights. I can’t count the number of iconic multiplayer moments I’ve seen. Anyway, these are my top ten Halo highlights.

10) Cortana’s RampancyRequiem, Halo 4This is the entire point of Halo 4, teased in Halo 3 – Cortana, an AI declining into rampancy. In other words, she will think herself to death. The Master Chief, despite a plate of metal shielding his eyes, looks aghast, saddened and terrified of the loss of his faithful companion. Without Cortana, he is nothing. Just a hulk of augmented machinery with a little humanity left behind. He needs her as much as she needs him, and a future without her is an inconceivable thought. His mission from then on is simple: get Cortana off Requiem and back to her maker, Dr Halsey. This also sets the tone of the game as well. Halo 4 is a much darker story, a story that explores The Master Chief’s purpose, and who he is. And it’s all acted beautifully with the ‘Green and Blue’ soundtrack in the background, a prelude to heartbreak.

9) Banshee ChaseThe Arbiter, Halo 2Search the station, quell the heresy therein. That’s The Arbiter’s suicide mission, as ordered by the Prophet of Truth. Now, the parts before taking flight in a Banshee are pretty dreary, if I’m honest. Playing as The Arbiter isn’t as fun as The Master Chief, mainly because of the weapons you use. But, I freaking love the knowledge we learn from playing as the enemy, and this is Halo 2’s strongest achievement – getting to know your enemy. After slogging through endless waves of heretics, you come across a landing pad where the chief heretic has taken flight in his Banshee. You give chase and it starts. Not only are you chasing after a Banshee in a storm-blasted airspace with other Banshee’s after your hide and Grunts shooting cannons from the high-rises, but the amazing music plays ‘Follow in Flight’, a badass, shattering guitar riff that always kicks me in the face. This is best played in the Halo 2 Anniversary game on Xbox One. It’s bloody amazing.

8) The GravemindGravemind, Halo 2The Master Chief has just killed the Prophet of Regret. The Covenant blasts the enormous lake in an effort to kill him, and he leaps into the water, sinking into the depths when a tentacle coils around his armour. ‘This is not your grave,’ the voice says. ‘But you are welcome in it.’ He is dragged through a labyrinth of levels before held prisoner by the gigantic, parasitic abomination that is the Gravemind. A Flood superintelligence. Like the Banshee Chase, this is best seen in the Anniversary edition, since his terrifying form is put on gross display. He tells the tale of the Forerunners intent with the Halo rings, and how he wants The Master Chief and The Arbiter to stop the Prophet of Truth from activating them. It’s a turning point in the story. Bound by the Gravemind, both The Chief and Arbiter must forge an alliance to stop a common enemy. The Prophet of Truth. Also, I love the Gravemind’s quotes, one of which might be the most ominous thing I’ve heard in the Halo universe. ‘I am the monument to all your sins.’

7) Attacking Two ScarabsThe Covenant, Halo 3Destroying Scarab walkers should be second nature by the time this epic confrontation blasts down from space. Armed with either a Warthog jeep, a Scorpion tank or a Hornet helicopter, it’s up to you to bring down the last guardians of the Ark’s control room, and stop Truth. The battle leading up to this encounter is pretty awesome, too. Driving a tank through a convoy of Covenant vehicles, only to stop at a massive frozen clearing when two Scarabs free fall onto the battlefield. Hornets fly around the walkers, Warthogs weave in and out of the Scarabs’ legs, and you board the walkers and blow them up from inside. All of this, of course, happens with the beautiful musical score in the background. ‘One Final Effort’ is an amazing piece of music, a piece that captures the very essence of Halo in three minutes. This is Halo 3 at one of its best moments. The entire mission is my favourite of all Halo 3.

6) The Battle of New AlexandriaNew Alexandria, Halo ReachSorrow and defeat pervade the campaign of Reach. If Halo 4 is the darkest of the games, then Reach is the saddest. If you know the lore, then you know planet Reach is doomed. It’s where it all started. The Covenant attacked, glassed the planet and pursued the rest of humanity with the ultimate goal of finding Earth. The battle of New Alexandria, the entire mission, is mostly played aboard a Falcon helicopter. The entire city is in flames. Buildings collapse, and Pelicans try to outfly their chasers with injured and civilians onboard. All is lost. At the mission’s end, you get a call from your higher-ups when a missile smashes into your skyscraper. You and your team run for the lifts when Kat, part of your squad, is shot in the head. Somber pianos play the outro as you and your team stand in a hole of the building, with Kat slung in your arms, as the city burns down. That’s when it hits home – we’ve lost.

5) The Fall of ReachThe Pillar of Autumn, Halo ReachEveryone in your squad is dead. You stand alone on a landing pad, just after Emile, your last friend, has been killed. Captain Keyes awaits in his Pelican. You hand over Cortana for passage aboard his ship, The Pillar of Autumn. You decline his offer of escape, knowing the debt you owe to your homeland – your life. Daring a suicide mission towards the MAC gun to ensure Keyes’ escape, you shoot through everything in your path, including Elite Zealots and Phantom dropships. The airspace is clear, and Keyes punches it. Now alone on a blackened, misty plain, it’s you and them. You fend off against waves of Covenant troops without backup, and no hope for rescue. Even when the Elites have you pinned down, you keep fighting. Even when they have energy swords impaled in your chest, you keep fighting. You keep fighting until you can’t fight anymore. The Pillar of Autumn blasts into space, and Reach is glassed.

4) The Flood OutbreakHalo: Combat Evolved, Two BetrayalsThe Flood has been unleashed – the greatest threat in the galaxy. Now, although this is my absolute least favourite mission in the games, the atmosphere, the terror and the hopelessness of your situation is perfectly made apparent. This is when you start retracing your steps, revisiting levels you’ve passed so you can finally escape the doomed Halo installation. The Flood chase the Covenant throughout the mission, and you’re very much a survivor caught in the middle of a three-way battle between enemies who all want to annihilate one another. The Covenant (who want to kill you and the Flood), the Sentinels (that want to eradicate the Flood), and the Flood (who want to eat everything). They’re all a threat to you, and there’s many a time when running away is a better option than killing. Near the end when you take a Banshee to the last generator, you can see the Flood horde swarming closer and closer to the end of a frozen canyon where a mishmash of Covenant troops make their last stand. Of course, they perish. Nothing can stop the Flood, except the ring you’re standing on.

3) Landing on the New Halo (Halo 3)Halo, Halo 3Everything ends here. After the nightmares of High Charity, The Master Chief, The Arbiter and Cortana land on the newly constructed Halo ring – the ring you intent to light and destroy the Flood once and for all. This is a beautifully sad moment for a number of reasons. One, Halo 3 is going to end. Two, this is a recreation from the original ring you explored in the first game. Three, the music… my god the music. ‘Halo Reborn’ sets the perfect ambience for this mission. And the fourth reason, the purpose of the ring itself. To destroy all life in the galaxy, so the Flood can’t eat anymore. Around a corner from the starting point lies a terminal. Tap in, and you can read the last words of the Didact before he lights the ring. ‘It’s over. We’re activating the Halo Array, our shameful last resort.’ When reading this with the music, it’s so sad. And so beautiful.

2) Escaping HaloHalo, Halo 3After lighting the ring, The Master Chief and The Arbiter must run for the ship, Forward unto Dawn, before the ring explodes. It’s another one of those Halo Warthog-escape moments that they do so well, but here it’s a monumental highlight. You’re running away from a certain death, and not only are the Flood chasing you down, but the ring is pulling itself apart. Chunks of the landscape erupt from the floor, structures fall cutting off your escape and you have to think on the spot, trying your best to get to the waiting ship, your only ticket out of there. The ‘Halo’ theme music is played in the background as well, harking memories from Halo: Combat Evolved’s finale with a Warthog-escape from The Pillar of Autumn, with the Flood at your heels. And then it’s over. And you see the last few scenes of this amazing story, and what becomes of The Master Chief, Cortana, and The Arbiter. Quite simply, the best finale to all of the games.

1) Return to SenderCairo Station, Halo 2This is my absolute favourite. Not only is it just sheer badass by The Master Chief, but a phenomenal musical score, beautiful visuals that are oh-so incredible, but it’s a testament to Halo 2’s evolution from Halo: Combat Evolved. It’s bolder, better, and straight up badass. The Three B’s. The Master Chief finds a bomb aboard Cairo Station. After deactivating it, he muses over what to do with it. Hmm… there’s a Covenant cruiser some hundred feet away from us. Lord Hood grants permission to, as Chief puts it, ‘to give the Covenant back their bomb’, and Chief drags the spikey contraption to a blast door. Cortana asks, ‘Just one question: what if you miss?’ And Chief, with one hand on the handle, says, ‘I won’t.’ He yanks it down, the doors open and he and the bomb are sucked into the vacuum of space. Passing through space, he drifts by a UNSC ship that shatters into stardust, and then he sees the Covenant cruiser. Time slows. He crawls along the bomb, reactivates it and kicks off downward for the UNSC ship, In Amber Clad, waiting for his arrival. The bomb explodes, taking the cruiser with it. It’s single-handedly The Master Chief’s best moment, the reason why he is The Master Chief. However, none of this would be anywhere near as amazing without the soundtrack. Check out ‘A Spartan Rises’, and check out the scene in question. ‘Return to Sender’. Always amazing to watch. Always.

I’m an introvert. There, I said it. Strange. I say it as if it’s something to be ashamed of. In truth, I’ve been an introvert since the start, and it’s something I’ve wanted to talk about for some time, and the frustration it brings when dealing with life on this world. Most of the time, introversion is absolutely fine, nothing to complain about, but other times I wish I wasn't this way. Check out Susan Cain’s presentation on ‘The Power of Introverts’ on the TED Talk YouTube channel if you want a really in-depth and thoughtful study on how introverts can shape the universe versus extroverts. Anyway, I just want to talk a little about introversion.

Solitude

Introverts are lone wolfs. People who prefer their own company, or small groups of friends, to crowds and parties. They are, from what I understand, often deep thinkers who tend to find incredible solutions to problems, craft new ideas and generally want to leave the world a better place from how they found it. It’s equally true for extroverts, too. I don’t want to say extroverts are none of those things or wise to keep away from or in any way unfriendly. The friendliest people I know are manic extroverts and always set aside five minutes for your time. Such people are gems and worth keeping. But, there is a problem. The rest of the world. From school, and all the way through life, we are forced to interact with people, partake in teamwork, step into uncomfortable situations, and then scorned if we don’t adapt. I remember school performances where it was MANDATORY to get involved. That’s pretty much what hell looks like to me. And if you don’t take part, the teachers will pick on you. Humiliating. The same is true for job interviews demanding group interviews under the disguise of ‘assessing how you work in a team’. That might be part-true, but I’m convinced the most part is to do with their laziness. Group interviews become a rumble pit. Introverts are less apt to show how good they really are for the job if placed in such a situation, so only the naturally talkative shine even though they might be horrible for the job. Stupid.

Just stop forcing people into groups! And stop with group interviews! Their sole function is to make the hiring team’s job’s easier based off factors unrelated to the job. Social ability. I’ve never got a job through a group interview. The only way for introverts to shine is to get an answer right when no-one else knows, or shout louder. Introverts won’t often do the latter. In one-on-one interviews, introverts are better suited, but even then they have to wear a mask of confidence. We all do, after all. Group work is annoying as hell, and most of the time pointless. I’ve always been a better worker when left alone. When stuck in a group I can’t voice my opinions out of fear they might be stupid, nonsensical and needless. Deep thought works best alone, but that’s not to say group work should be avoided at all costs. Introversion, for me at school and sometimes these days, a curse on the worst days. I often wonder how my life would play out if I could engage in polite conversation and even pretend to care about somebody’s life. This all sounds deeply misanthropic, cold. Perhaps vitriolic. But, in truth I do care. I do care about other people, my work mates, friends and family. But it’s so unbelievably hard to say anything. It’s just easier, and safer, to keep quiet.

Quiet

I was a shy boy who grew into a shy man. Relationships are hard as hell to manage, but I’ve come to realize the ones closest to you love you for who you are. My best friend is pretty much my polar opposite. He is an extrovert. He has a girlfriend, a car, good looks, a family he’s open with and an ear-to-ear grin. He’s the first name on my phone and often the last person I talk to. I’ve admitted my failings and social ineptness, my anxiety and frustration with living in general. Instead of shying away like how a lot of people would (and understandably so) he doesn’t care. He doesn’t look at me any different, not as far as I know anyway. He doesn’t expect me to go to the cinema, so he doesn’t invite me and I totally get that. Bloody grateful. Nor does he expect to me see outside if I’ve got a day off. I’ll be writing instead. Not all introverts need somebody to cling on to, and I like to think sometimes I don’t, but having somebody there who will always be there for you, and will actually miss you when you’re not around, is an incredible gift, and something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. I don’t deserve my best friend, but I’ve got him.

Since watching Susan Cain’s talk on introversion, images and flashbacks of school, college, university, job hunting and skirting the fringes of human existence have flooded my mind, and it’s incredible to think how far we’re moving (as a world) towards an extroverted plain. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but worrying for those who really can’t cope with social interactions. For some people, the mere thought of a human encounter, a friendly gathering, or even going to work, is terrible. So terrible it’s actually painful. I want to live in a world where introverts are praised for their ideas, their thoughts and work ethics instead of made to feel guilty for living in the shadows and toiling away on their bright ideas. Just because we don’t want to go for a drink with our colleagues after work doesn’t mean we don’t like them, want to get to know them or see them. We’d love to get to know them, perhaps even build a stronger relationship or something more. We just don’t want to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations where we are on guard, our cards close to our chest with our eyes on the door.

Editing my current novel is a messy thing to do, messier than any editing spiel I’ve done before, but it’s not as bad a thing as it might sound. Editing, as we all know, is where the book starts to take shape, evolve, and become the story you want your ideal readers to enjoy. First drafts are incomplete, full of mistakes and in need of trimming. As Stephen King says in On Writing, ‘only god gets it right first time.’ I thought I’d talk about the editing experience so far, where I think it’ll go, when I finish and what might happen afterwards.

Surgical Precision

I’ve always liked the surgical approach to editing. I like to run through my manuscript three times, and to me, I like to think it’s something akin to what doctors might do with patients. Let’s say the manuscript is the patient. You know there’s something wrong, probably many things wrong, so what’s first? The patient goes inside the MRI machine so the doctors can find mistakes, make notes on additions and changes, while correcting obvious mistakes such as typos and so on. Now that the problems have been found, it’s off to surgery for the second look through. Here is where I do all the major stuff. Story structuring, additions, rewrites. To me it’s like breaking and re-breaking bones to set in pieces of metal to reconstruct broken bones. With all of that done, the patient is whisked away for recovery, and that’s when I look through for a third time, the polish. Sometimes I’ll need to look a fourth time, but usually no more than that. Hopefully I explained that well enough, but you get the idea. Editing’s all about nursing a manuscript back to health so it can stand on both legs. But, you’ll have your own editing routine anyway, and no right way exists.

Stephen King says he reads through the manuscript in one go, but I can’t ever do it. When I edit I get ten chapters done, minimum. Like I said, we all have different work patterns. But it works for me. I can only work one way, and if somebody does it differently, I say bloody great. Do whatever it takes for you to get the work done. I’d hate if somebody condemned me for working in a way they suggest is wrong, and I’d never do it to them either. If it matters to you, then it matters, so work how you need to work. That’s kind of my beef with ‘how to write’ books, since they often sound like instruction manuals to me. Even On Writing sounds a little off sometimes, and Stephen King even said at the start that it’s all bullshit. Only through working will you work out your own routines. Writing books are guidelines, helpful advice. Never instruction.

The Approaching Curve

Time is whizzing by at the moment as I edit. I’ve got a novel ready to go exploring virtual reality and artificial intelligence, and needless to say it is science fiction. I normally write contemporary fiction teamed with supernatural elements, but I freaking love sci-fi and have been eager to write a novel for ages. Now such an idea has crystalized with my fascination on virtual reality and hyper reality, I want to get started as soon as. BUT! I’m not starting until I’m done editing. On top of that, I’m editing a bunch of short stories for a competition that’s taken my interest massively, so I suspect I’ll start writing the novel in July. Maybe at the end of the month. Probably not. Then again, you never can tell with time.

Half a year’s gone by already. Take a pause to ask yourself ‘where did it go?’ and come back. So instead of questioning how fast it’s gone and all that rubbish, I’m going to review the reading matter I’ve read so far. How’s it been? Not bad at all, some books disappointed me more than I’d care to admit and some have been astounding. I can say with a fair degree of certainty what my book of the year is already, but more on that later. Some have been rereads and the rest have mostly been… OK. Unlike last year, there were a bunch of knockout books I’d reread in a heartbeat such as Halo: The Flood, The Green Mile, and The Humans, Let it Snow, Rivers of London and more. This year… I count three. Anyway, to business.

The Good Stuff

Five books this year were rereads, and the best of the bunch were Bright Lights, Big City (obviously), Agent 6, The Great Gatsby, A Farewell to Arms and Fahrenheit 451. None of these books can count towards a book of the year award because I’ve read the buggers before, but dammit three out of five ain’t bad. I’ll read Bright Lights, Fahrenheit 451 and Agent 6 until the end of time, but I will stay well clear from Farewell and Gatsby. Both of which I can’t understand the praise for, ESPECIALLY Gatsby. Thing is, I quite liked it first time, but second time I hated it. Such a chore to read I thought. New good books though were ones such as Revival, Midnight Express, Trigger Warning and Misery. All of those are more than good, but Misery spun terror I never felt before. Two characters, one with smashed legs and another unpredictable and maniacal. What can go wrong? Revival is also a helluva read, but somewhat slow to get to the point I thought. It’s a slower paced Stevie King, one that sets the scene and all that jazz that all comes together for a great story. Interesting stuff as well.

The really good stuff, though are books I’ve blabbed on for a while, and probably not enough. Matt Haig’s Reasons to Stay Alive. If The Humans didn’t set his brilliance in stone (and it did) then Reasons ought to with an undeniable stamp. It’s an honest, real description of depression that is essential to home, a book everybody ought to read, if not because they suffer, but for understanding that mental illness is another part of what makes humans human. Yes, we are flawed, but some are suffering with a dark descent of something quite catastrophic. Something he writes about without apology. I blazed through it in two days, could have been one but I wanted to keep it for another day. It’s a book that I don’t really have to read again, but dip in and out of, which I do. If there was one book I could recommend as essential reading, this is it. Then we’ve got Soulmates. *Long sigh*. Soulmates… utterly, utterly uh-may-zing. There is only so much space on a blog post to say how much I love this book, but the moment I finished it I wanted to read it again. I’ve told friends about it. If I could, I’d buy enough couples for all my friends to read. I’d do the same with Reasons. Soulmates is a book that probably won’t ever leave my head, and those are the best books. One day I’ll make a top 10 book list, and Soulmates has a place.

The Bad Stuff

I’m just going to say it. By far, the worst book I read this year was Foxglove Summer, and you don’t know how sad I am to say that. I slammed the book shut, pissed off about its ending, and not just that, but how needless the entire story felt. Yes, maybe Peter would leave London on a case after Lesley’s betrayal so he can clear his head. And yes, maybe there should be reflection about it, but you can do that in half the number of pages and it would probably be better. This book just felt like a bridge to cross before we get to the showdown which I suspect will be the next book. And not only that, but the case itself didn’t grab me, and I still don’t know who the bad guys were. AND, what the hell point was the wizard? His character is described in such a way that suggests he’s integral to the plot, but he isn’t. He hands over a staff and that’s it. I say all this with slumped shoulders and a shake of the head. Rivers of London is a damn good series, and this book is just… nothing. Forget it. It never happened. The second worst book (discounting rereads) is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and this was obviously not meant for me. I am not the target audience or even close. It was a book club choice, had it not been I wouldn’t have picked it up at a store. Yes, it reads well and there’s bloody good writing to be found, but the story revolves around a character I never cared for on a quest that’s doomed to fail.

Counting a top three books so far is pretty easy because there were only three gigantic successes for me so far. Soulmates, Reasons to Stay Alive and Misery. Trigger Warning comes close, but there were a few short stories there that didn’t work for me. Compared to last year, the quality has subsided way down. But that just makes these said knockouts even more incredible. There’s nothing like reading a series of OK stories before a triumph blasts through the wall screaming ‘I’m here!’ That’s what Soulmates was like, the same goes for Reasons. Misery came after two great books, but damn Misery is excellent. Yeah, those three books are the best so far. And I remain firm in my prediction that Soulmates will be my book of the year. As far as fiction goes, that’s the benchmark. Reasons remains the best nonfiction, but I am reading Frank Turner’s tour memoirs, The Road Beneath My Feet and that’s terrific so far. We’ll see.

I was skeptical about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to begin with. Every time I heard about it, comparisons to Skyrim weren’t far behind, and for me, Skyrim is about as perfect as games get. So much value, intense storytelling, heroics and bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful. Then along comes The Witcher 3, the third game in a series I’ve never played before and a game that’s getting near-perfect scores all over the internet and in a front row spot for game of the year. And after spending more than thirty hours in its dark, oppressive, boggy and violent world, I’m inclined to agree.

Of Monsters and Humanity

One word connected to The Witcher 3 is BIG. The world is massive, and that’s not just landmass. The sheer number of characters you meet, the amount of monsters to fight, and the GTA V level to detail is quite simple staggering to behold. There is no stone unturned so far. Characters feel fleshed out, they hold their own secrets and always have their own reasons for doing the things they do. And quite often, their lives and decisions are left up to you to decide. Quests have multiple endings, and it seems this game has the tendency to make you feel like a dick with whatever choice you make. Geralt, the protagonist, is a witcher – a monster hunter for hire – and pretty much non-human. He’s got cat eyes and ashen hair, and people look at him with disdain, fear and disgust. Witchers are apparently heartless mercenaries who won’t raise a finger to help without a fee. Quite often I’m making decisions based on what I think Geralt will do instead of what I would do. Roleplaying, see.

And that’s just one part of this game. The Witcher 3 has plenty of RP in its G, and for me it took around ten hours until it clicked. Unlike Skyrim you can’t really choose how you play, instead the game revolves on you adapting to any situation. Enemies in Skyrim either do one of two things: bum-rush you swords a-swinging, or attack from range. The Witcher 3? They do far more than that. Enemies attack patterns need to be learned, and like Dark Souls, you’ll have to die a lot to learn the hard lessons. And soon you’ll be making potions, coating your blades in dangerous oils, building bombs and crafting armour thanks to the games ridiculously deep crafting and alchemy system. Slip on your gardening gloves, break your back in heavy lifting and get searching the world for components to craft with. Monsters need slaying, and if you’re not equipped with the correct gear, you’re apt to die. There’s so much to learn, but this is a game designed for you to slip away, sink in your chair and take it all in. Use the helpful glossary to understand monster weaknesses and write up a shopping list. It takes a while for everything to gel, but when it does you won’t shelf the game anytime soon.

The Wild Hunt

The story is a little tricky to follow since I’ve not played the last two games, but I’m interested. Like I said, the characters are vivid, well-spoken and the script is excellent. Peasants speak with deep West Country accents, city-folk speak like the posh bastards they are and everybody has their own voice. Skyrim often recycled the same off-tune accents from time to time. But it’s not just that. The game world is harrowing, and when you get to the mainland of Velen, the tone of the game darkens to the black of night. Corpses hang from posts and trees, and plains roll out blackened and scorched with flags planted askew with corpses piled high as a monument to a great battle. There is a class system at work, and yes, the game features racism, something that’s fuelled anger amongst a lot of people. My reaction? Good. I’m glad the game tackles racism and so unapologetically features violence, sex and filthy language. It’s a game for Christ sakes. It’s 18 rated, so what’s the problem? People can tell the difference between reality and a game and can appreciate the artistic merits. Get over it.

After spending more than thirty hours with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I can say, hand on heart, I’m addicted. There’s more than seventy undiscovered locations on the map of Velen (there’s more maps to explore!) and so many quests to discover, complete and wallow over my decisions. And to top it all off, grow an epic beard! There’s probably around two-hundred hours of content here, more actually. And in October, it’s getting its first of two paid add-on content packs worth another ten or so hours. I’m completely hooked in this amazing word, and finally, FINALLY, a real reason and justification to purchase a next-gen console. Finally.